Heat is back, and so are ozone alerts

Electricity use sets new record

With temperatures forecast to climb into the mid-90s, Chicago will implement the city's heat emergency plan Wednesday for the third time this summer.

Commonwealth Edison on Tuesday broke its record for peak power usage as air conditioners were cranked up throughout the Chicago area, and the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for Wednesday and Thursday.

The weather service issues a warning when the heat index--which factors temperature and humidity--is forecast during a 24-hour period to be 105 or above during the day and 80 or above at night. Such a warning automatically triggers the opening of the city's emergency communications center, said Roderick Drew, a spokesman for the mayor's office.

Because of humid conditions and high air pollution levels, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency declared Tuesday and Wednesday ozone action days, the 10th and 11th such days this summer. During such days, the agency encourages people to use public transportation, avoid using gasoline-powered recreational vehicles, postpone refueling cars, conserve household energy and postpone fume-producing chores.

Bill Nelson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Wednesday's overnight lows will be in the upper-70s in Chicago and the lower-70s in the suburbs, which means sleeping conditions will continue to be unpleasant.

That was bad news to Lenore Brooks, 33, of Chicago, who did her best to cope with the heat while waiting for a bus on Michigan Avenue on Tuesday evening. She said that because she doesn't have an air conditioner, just being at home is draining.

"I go home and I sweat while I'm sleeping," Brooks said. "I don't have any energy to clean and cook."

"Thursday, most of the day we'll still be in the soup," Nelson said. "Friday we expect things to be significantly better."

Meanwhile, under the city's emergency plan, city agencies will be on alert, helping seniors get to cooling centers, monitoring water pressure, shutting off opened fire hydrants, keeping extra tow trucks on hand and checking on at-risk residents.

The heat emergency plan also was in effect July 22 and Aug. 1, according to Drew.

Despite the record marks, ComEd spokeswoman Judy Mitchell said there were no heat-related power outages in the city.

"We held up pretty good today," she said.

The utility set a new record Tuesday for peak power usage and then broke the record again later that same day, Mitchell said. The previous peak, set July 31, was 21,263 megawatts. At 3 p.m. Tuesday, the utility reported 21,331 megawatts of usage over an hour's time, only to be eclipsed at 4 p.m. with a reading of 21,489 megawatts.

According to the Cook County medical examiner's office, no new heat-related deaths were reported Monday, leaving the summer toll at 21.

Cooling centers for senior citizens were fully operational Tuesday, according to officials from the Chicago Housing Authority and the Chicago Department of Human Services, who urged overheated senior citizens to call the city's 311 line for transportation to a cooling center in the coming days.